


Out of Reach

by ParvumAutomaton



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-21 17:31:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12462507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParvumAutomaton/pseuds/ParvumAutomaton
Summary: An unexpected winter storm during a camping trip, late night conversations, and two friends figuring out where they stand after the Reach invasion.Background relationship is Tye/Asami.Special thanks to Weirdowhotalkstoofast (weirdnonsensefandomstuff on tumblr) for betaing this work, and inspiring it's creation.





	Out of Reach

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Weirdowhotalkstoofast (weirdnonsensefandomstuff on tumblr), they were fantastic in keeping me motivated and in helping me edit this work.

Tye looked up from the pile of logs he was arranging in the fire pit. Jaime was supposed to be helping, but he kept pacing. He’d walk the short distance between the firepit and the small camper, crane his head to look down the campsite access road, and then return to the firepit. He’d only wait near the fire pit several minute before making the same loop again.

“Dude, chill,” Tye said after the fourth time Jaime left to look down the road. “Asami’s not going to crash your dad’s truck.”

“It’s not the truck I’m worried about,” Jaime said. “The access road can get pretty steep and Asami’s been gone a long time.”

“She’s fine.”

“It’s been like two hours,” Jaime said, worry creeping into his voice.

“She wanted to see a movie.”

“Oh.”

Jaime visibly relaxed. He stopped checking the road, and focused on helping Tye setup the fire. They loosely piled tinder first before stacking kindling and two larger logs on top of it. But when Jaime pulled out the matches, he hesitated, looking at Tye.

“She’s not nervous around us, is she?” He asked.

Tye bit back his initial answer of ‘of course not.’ He had heard Jaime say _us_ not _me_. Tye sat back from the fire pit and made sure to look directly at Jaime when he spoke.

“She -all of us- know that there is a difference between you and the Scarab.”

Jaime looked away. He shrugged and didn’t say anything, so Tye continued to speak.

“During the Reach invasion, we got some information from Luthor. And now, whether or not your team wants him to, Virgil keeps us up to date with what the team knows. So we all know that the Reach made you into their puppet. That you weren’t in control during the fight at S.T.A.R. Labs, the Scarab was. But now, you’re back and there is no way for the Reach to take control again.”

“It’s not that simple-”

“It is,” Tye insisted. “And I’ll kick the ass of anyone else who tries to control you. Seriously dude. You have to know that it is not your fault.”

“I...” Jaime trailed off. He glanced toward his shoulder before continuing. “Yes I do, but I just don’t know how...”

Tye let the silence stay for a few moments before moving to Jaime’s side. He gently reached for the box of matches in Jaime’s hand, and Jaime let them go. With a smooth flick of his wrist, Tye struck a match.

“Shall we get this fire started?”

Jaime nodded, and Tye dropped the match in the tinder which quickly caught fire. They both watched as it spread to the kindling, gained heat and eventually caught the larger logs on fire as well.

Once they were both sure that the campfire was stable, Jaime pushed himself up and ducked into the camper. Tye brushed off the small covered picnic table at their campsite near the fire and sat.

He didn’t have to wait long for Jaime to return setting down some plates and a cast iron skillet. He set them down on the picnic table a took a seat across from Tye.

“Did you forget something?” Tye asked.

Jaime laughed. “You mean the food?” He asked.

“Yes,” Tye responded, folding his arms. “Asami said she’d be very impressed if we made something before she got back.”

“Yeah, I’d be impressed too,” Jaime said, grinning. “Since all we have is a single slice of pizza, peanut butter, and crackers.”

Tye’s retort faded and turned into a groan as he leaned forward catching his face in his hands.

“Let me guess,” Jaime said, looking at him closely. “The only reason you wanted the fire started now was so we could make something to impress her.”

“I...” Tye started. He saw Jaime’s knowing look and just shrugged. “It was a good plan.”

“Mostly. You just forgot one little thing.”

“Yeah, well, so did you.”

This time Jaime shrugged. “Maybe I just wanted to beat the cold.”

Tye laughed. “Didn’t you have a mission up in Canada last week? I’m pretty sure winter there is way colder than winter here”

“The difference was that I was wearing my armor.”

Tye noticed, but did not mention, Jaime’s flinch. He noticed, but did not mention the sudden downturn in mood. And he waited for Jaime to resume their banter, or tell him what was wrong. But Jaime just sat in silence staring at the camp fire.

“So,” Tye said breaking the silence. “How goes superheroing?”

“Good, I guess,” Jaime answered. He paused, tilted his head to the side, and then smiled at Tye. “Apparently they’re making action figures of the team.”

“Dude, seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Jaime motioned for Tye to wait as he rushed back to the camper. He opened the door leaned inside, and pulled a blue and black toy from his bag. He returned to the table and handed the Blue Beetle figure over to Tye.

Tye raised an eyebrow as he took it.

“You brought it on the camping trip?” He asked.

“Well yeah,” Jaime said. He rubbed the back of his neck, laughed once, and then theatrically  deflated under Tye’s look. “I know, Scarab said it was weird too.”

Tye instantly regretted his teasing. He still didn’t understand why Jaime would bring an action figure of himself for a camping trip, but knowing that he was in agreement with the thing that had imprisoned Jaime made him revaluate.

“Look, dude, if you’re excited then you’re excited. Who cares what it says?”

“I do.” Jaime’s voice was quiet.

Tye felt his foot return to his mouth. Absently, he moved the joints of the toy in his hand as he thought. Of course Jaime had to try to keep the scarab pacified. It was attached to his spine, impossible to remove without killing him. And Tye knew that that was all his fault.

“I mean, they’ve got a point,” Jaime said, cutting off Tye’s thoughts. “It is kinda strange.”

“So? Dude, you’re not the only one excited about an action figure. Virgil’s been sending me these excited but cryptic text messages,” Tye said. He paused for a second before adding, “I’m assuming that he did get one, right?”

Jaime smiled.

“Yeah, he did. Our Watchtower rooms are actually connected, so we did compare them when they arrived. His...” Jaime trailed off. He smiled wider and then continued. “Well, I’ll let him tell you.”

Tye laughed. “I’m sure that he will.”

His mirth quickly faded when he looked back at the table. The toy was standing where he had placed it, feet apart for balance, one arm forward the other raised in what seemed to Tye to be an awkward wave. For one frightening moment, it wasn’t a toy Tye was moving to his whims but Blue Beetle. A puppeted Blue Beetle.

Tye pushed the toy back towards Jaime. He didn’t need to bring back those memories for his friend. He needed a distraction.

“So, how do you plan on keeping Milagro from commandeering it to lead her dinosaur ponies into battle?”

“She’s already got a Guy Gardner toy for that,” Jaime said with a chuckle. “Plus, I don’t know how much she’d want this once considering all the other Blue Beetle toys.”

Tye didn’t laugh. The distraction didn’t work like he wanted it to.

“She still has the Reach toys?”

Jaime shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Does she know what happened?”

“She does,” Jaime answered looking past Tye towards grey clouds in the distance. “It’s just- I couldn’t ask her to give them up.”

“Why not?”

Tye tried his best to make the question sound curious rather than angry. Because while he was mad that the Reach marketed their puppet, and mad that Milagro didn’t realize how hard it would be for Jaime to see those reminders everyday, he was not mad at Jaime.

Jaime kept looking at the horizon. When he spoke, his voice was soft, and Tye could just hear him over the slowly rising wind.

“When the Reach had me, Scarab minimized contact with my family. We couldn’t risk-”

“The Reach,” Tye cut in quickly. “The Reach couldn’t risk them catching on.”

“The Reach had contingencies for if they caught on...” Jaime trailed off. He resolutely did not look at Tye. “Contingencies I couldn’t live with.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Jaime directed his attention to the toy, picking it up gently.

“Milagro stopped trying to hang with me,” Jaime said softly, still focused on the toy he held. “She would just drag her Blue Beetle toy around instead. Sometimes late at night, after the Ambassador had left us alone, I’d hear her talking to it. Sometimes complaining about things being weird, sometimes just talking about the day...”

“I understand.”

Jaime put the toy into the pocket of his hoodie and looked at Tye. He smiled softly.

“Thanks. I’m sorry this got...” Jaime trailed off shrugging.

Tye clapped him on the shoulder.“ Not a problem dude.”

Jaime didn’t respond immediately, instead looking past Tye and to the sky again.

Tye moved, standing up to be by Jaime’s side.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Jaime answered quickly. “It’s just those clouds are looking threatening.”

As if to punctuate Jaime’s statement, the wind picked up. It rocked the camper and bit through the thin jackets both boys were wearing. Even the fire that they had worked so hard to start was driven down to nothing more than smoldering wood.

Jaime pulled his hood up over his head. He rushed to the fire in an attempt to keep it burning.

Tye didn’t have a hood to pull up, and he didn’t rush to save the dying fire. He had more pressing matters to attend to. He pulled his phone out, dialed and held it to a freezing ear. As it rang, Tye felt his heart leap into his throat.

A second gust of wind brought both flakes of snow and embers flying from the fire pit. The embers extinguished quickly, but Jaime still grabbed their water bucket. He looked at Tye, who nodded quickly, before tossing the water onto the fire and extinguishing it completely before the next gust of wind could cause it to spread.

Asami’s phone went to voicemail.

Tye called back. This time, he could see snowflakes land and melt on the screen as he dialed.

The phone rang again, Jaime mixed the sodden fire insuring it was out, and snow began to stick on the hitch of the camper.

Tye reached voicemail again.

Jaime returned the plates and pan to the camper. Then he exited and held his right hand, covered by his hoodie sleeve, to the external power hookup.

Tye didn’t move as Jaime knelt and waited by the camper. Instead, he stared at his phone and willed it to ring.

He was so intently focused on the phone that he didn’t notice that Jaime had finished whatever he was doing by the camper and had come up beside him.

“Battery is full and heat is on,” Jaime said softly. “We should get inside.”

Tye didn’t move. “I can’t reach Asami.”

Jaime glanced towards the access road.

“I’ll find her,” he said, armor and wings already fully formed.

Jaime was only a few inches from the ground when the wind pick up again. It lifted him, and then slammed him sideways back into the ground. He landed sprawled.

Tye raced to his side, but Jaime had already gotten to his feet by the time he arrived.

“Let’s try this again with less crashing,” Jaime said.

However before Jaime could, Tye’s phone rang. Tye only needed to glance at the name before racing to pick it up.

“Asami, are you ok?”

“ _I am fine. I was checking out.”_

“Good,” Tye said. He could see Jaime remove his armor and sigh in relief. Tye himself felt the tension melt away from his shoulders. “There’s a storm coming, you need to get back quickly.”

“No,” Jaime said, raising his voice over the wind. “The weather is too bad, it’ll be whiteout conditions in fifteen minutes at most.”

Even if she sped, that meant that Asami would be driving steep mountain roads in zero visibility. That was too risky. The only other option to get her back to their campsite was to have Jaime fly her back. And while Tye didn’t doubt that Jaime would be willing to do whatever he could to help, he didn’t think that that would be a good idea. He had seen Jaime’s crash just moments prior. And while Jaime may have walked away unscratched, Asami wouldn’t have the benefit of the armor.

“Nevermind,” Tye said, also raising his voice to be heard above the wind. “The weather is too bad. Stay where you are until it passes.”

“ _How long?”_

Tye repeated her question to Jaime. Jaime took a second before answering.

“Tomorrow morning, at the earliest.” He pulled out his phone and brought up a weather app. Tye could see the approaching weather. The storm was big and it did not look good.

Asami must have heard Jaime over the phone, because she spoke again.

“ _I am at the Walmart.”_

Tye could hear the worry in her voice. The unspoken question of if she was going to be alright there.

“That’s good. They’re open 24 hours and have food, water and warmth. You will be alright there.”

Jaime touched the hand that Tye was holding his phone. And without a thought, Tye told Asami that Jaime wanted to speak to her and held the phone out to Jaime. Jaime didn’t take it, instead he switched it to speakerphone and maxed out the volume.

“You’re at the Walmart off of I-25 right?”

“ _Yes.”_

“There’s a Hampton just past the edge of the parking lot there. You can go there and get an actual bed and room.”

The was an obvious pause before Asami spoke again.

“ _I do not think that the cash I have left is enough.”_

Honestly, even if she had not already spent the cash that Jaime had given her on groceries, and the cash that Tye had given her for the movie, it would not have been enough to cover a hotel room. And since Asami’s parents had been less than helpful with the paperwork she needed, it wasn’t like Asami had her own credit card.

“I’ll take care of it,” Jaime offered without hesitation.

But Tye knew that Asami knew that he had saved up the money to rent the camper and the site on his own, borrowing some money and the truck from his dad at the end so that they could take the trip during their winter break, rather than in the heat of summer. And because Tye knew Asami knew this, he knew what her response would be before she said it.

“ _I do not want to be a burden.”_

“It’s not-”

“I can not accept. I will be fine here.” Asami cut Jaime off.

Jaime didn’t respond initially. Instead he waited, tilted his head to the side, and whispered words that were lost to the wind. His fingers then moved over his phone deftly. Only after he seemed satisfied with what he saw did Jaime speak.

“Did Lex Luthor ever compensate you for that dangerous Warworld mission?”

“ _He gave us pizza and shelter.”_

“That is hardly adequate for the amount of personal risk he asked of you,” Jaime said. “So the least he could do is provide a hotel room for however long you need it.”

“ _We did not part on good terms. I do not think he would be willing...”_

After Asami trailed off, Jaime smiled and spoke again.

“I wasn’t exactly planning on asking him,” he said. “But as of right now, there’s a reservation in your name at the Hampton. It’s paid for using small withdraws from several of Luthor’s accounts.”

Jaime paused, and rubbed the back of his head.

“Maybe don’t tell the league about this,” he said lightly.

“ _I will not.”_

Tye and Jaime stayed on the phone with Asami while she walked over to the hotel and checked in. She did not have any problem doing so. And after she was settled in her room Tye wished her a goodnight and hung up the phone.

Jaime rubbed his hands, shivering. “Now that Asami’s inside and warm, how about we do the same?”

Tye nodded. With the adrenaline from the worry about Asami fading, he could feel how cold it had gotten, and how little his jacket was helping.

Tye entered the camper first. He carefully avoided getting snow on Jaime’s bed, which was the camper’s dinette with the center table pulled down and a cushion added to provide a second flat sleeping surface. He shuffled down the hallway, barely wide enough for one person, between the kitchenette, and the mini bathroom, and stopped in front of the bed that he and Asami had been using.

Jaime entered the camper next. He closed and latched the door behind him. He then opened the bathroom door and hung his snow covered hoodie next to the showerhead above the toilet, and placed his shoes beside it. Tye passed Jaime his coat and shoes, both of which Jaime placed with his own.

Then Jaime fell backwards onto his bed, pulling his blankets over him. Tye grabbed the largest of his own blankets wrapped it around himself, and sat next to Jaime. An occasional gust of wind would rock the camper, but the biting cold was repelled by the camper’s walls and heat.

“So now what?” Tye asked.

“Now we wait out the storm.”

“Obviously, I mean in the short term.”

“Dinner?” Jaime asked, sitting up. He leaned forward off his makeshift bed and pulled open the icebox. “We’ve got that slice of pizza I mentioned, plus peanut butter and crackers.”

“Ahh,” Tye answered as Jaime placed all three food items on the counter, with the pizza balanced on top of the peanut butter lid in lieu of a plate. “The meal that wouldn’t impress Asami.”

“There are also some baby carrots.”

Tye raised an eyebrow. “Baby carrots? I take it back,” he said. “Truly this is a meal fit for kings.”

Tye laughed as Jaime threw the bag of carrots at him.

Jaime stood, handed the rest of the food to Tye, and opened a cabinet. He contemplated the contents for a moment before asking.

“What would pair better with this fine meal, red wine or white?”

“Considering everything,” Tye said, knocking on one camper window, dislodging built up snow. “I’d think vodka fits best.”

“Well, all I’ve got is bottled water.” Jaime responded, grabbing two from the cabinet.

“It’s clear, close enough.”

Jaime laughed. He grabbed a carrot and dipped it in the peanut butter. After he took a bite, he shook his head smiling.

“What?” Tye asked.

“Be careful telling that joke around the team,” he said. “They might think that we went on this camping trip to go drinking.”

“You?” Tye asked laughing. “Them assuming that you’d come out here to break the law, now that’s the real joke.”

“Well, we did just steal from a multimillionaire.”

Tye laughed again, and Jaime joined him. They bumped their water bottles together and drank.

“But seriously dude, thank you,” Tye said.

“For what?” Jaime asked. “I completely missed the blizzard until it was too late. Getting Asami a hotel was the least I could do.”

“We all missed it,” Tye said. If Asami hadn’t gone to the movies, she would have been back in plenty of time, Tye thought. And the biggest reason Asami chose to go then was to give Tye some time alone with Jaime. “And it’s not just what you did but how you did it.”

Jaime pulled his legs onto the bed, so that he was sitting cross legged and facing Tye. He didn’t say anything, but then again, Jaime was always good at listening.

“It’s been tough,” Tye said, also pulling himself completely onto the bed, but not quite looking at Jaime. “I mean don’t get me wrong, since Maurice is in jail and Mom has finally left him, she’s saving all of the money that she had been using to support him. And that’s more than enough to support Asami. But that’s not everything you know...”

Tye closed his eyes took a breath and then looked Jaime in the eye.

“Asami hasn’t told me to keep this secret,” Tye said softly, “But I am sure that she’d rather the entire league not know about it.”

“Of course,” Jaime said seriously. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave Tye a more relaxed smile. “Besides even if I was thinking about her or your confidence, both of you know about the ‘Lex thing’, so you have more than enough leverage on me.”

Tye grinned momentarily before speaking again.

“It’s Asami’s parents. Half a world away and they still are trying to make her life hell because she ‘isn’t good enough’.”

“That’s crap.”

“I know it, Asami knows it,” Tye responded. “But when they refuse to hand over her school records forcing her to cram four years of tests into one semester if she wants to graduate with us, it can make it hard for her to believe that the work she puts in matters, you know?”  

Jaime nodded solemnly.Tye continued talking.

“So that whole ‘let’s just call this getting some of the money that Lex owes you’, is appreciated.”

Jaime was silent for a moment and glanced towards his shoulder. He then spoke quietly.

“Or we could get S.T.A.R. or the Justice League to ask them to hand over the records.”

“We tried that already,” Tye answered. Jaime jumped slightly and looked back towards Tye who continued to talk. “But since the Koizumis were ‘so nice and helpful’ when S.T.A.R. had us, they don’t believe us when we say that this is an issue.”

“Alright,” Jaime said softly, again not looking at Tye. “We can do that.”

“Do what?”

Jaime shrugged. “Hack the Zeta Tubes so that she can go and get whatever she needs.”

Tye bit back a smile.

“You sure?” He asked. “Virgil said that he might be able to do something like that, but was worried about messing up and opening the floodgates so to say.”

Jaime paused for a second. “You mean like letting the Kroloteans back in?”

“Yeah.”

“No worries, the Kroloteans are terrified of me...” Jaime paused, rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, they’re terrified of the Reach in general, not just me. So if I mess up and they come through. They’re going to turn right back around and run. I’m not worried about it.”

“You’re not the Reach,” Tye said firmly.

“They don’t know that.”

“Right,” Tye said, almost angry that Jaime was correct. It was a painful reminder that there would always be someone who saw the bug on Jaime’s back and made the leap to him being Reach, no matter what Tye said or did. Sure, this time it worked out but Tye was worried about next time. If Jaime got hurt because of it...

Tye looked over at Jaime who was turned away from him and towards the window. Tye could see Jaime’s brows furrowed, eyes closed, in the reflection of the glass. He hated to see Jaime hurting, but he had caused it and had no idea how to make it better.

“Thanks,” Tye said, pushing back his own feelings back. He clasped Jaime on the shoulder, and Jaime looked back at him. He gave a small smile, and then looked towards the window again.

For lack of anything better to do, Tye stood and brought their food back to the icebox. He poked around the cabinets a bit hoping to get an idea of how to lighten the mood again. And he did find a something.

“Look at this,” he said pulling out the box of yogurt covered pretzels. He held them up and shook the box once, distracting Jaime from his thoughts.

“Oh nice,” Jaime said. “You found breakfast.”

Tye laughed, but before Jaime could join in a gust of wind rocked the camper, forcing them both to grab onto the sides of it.

He grabbed the counter out of instinct when another gust of wind rocked the camper again.

He cupped his hands against the window over the sink and looked out. He could see the snow starting to pile up.

“It’s looking pretty bad out there.”

Tye instantly regretted saying that as he saw Jaime also crawl over to and look out of one of the windows at the front of the camper. He didn’t want Jaime to feel obligated to go out during the storm.

But Jaime pulled away from the window, simply saying, “Yeah it is.”

“You’re not going to sneak out into it are you?”

“Not unless the Sca-” Jaime hesitated, looking away from Tye. “Not unless _my_ scanners pick up something I can help with. You saw me flying in that wind, crashing through someone’s roof is not a risk I want to take, unless I’m actively trying to save someone.”

Tye plopped down onto the bed next to Jaime.

“Cool,” he said, “It’s been forever since we’ve had a night that’s just us.”

“It has,” Jaime said, smiling.

Sitting together, they lapsed into an easy silence before Tye spoke.

“Well, I’m all out of rants about Maurice. What else did we used to do?”

“Late night movies with only subtitles so we wouldn’t wake my parents.”

Tye laughed. “I don’t think we have to worry about waking anyone out here in this storm.”

“True,” Jaime responded, grinning, “But we also don’t have a television to watch movies on.”

“We do have radio though.”

“That works.”

Tye turned on the radio as both he and Jaime took turns using the sink and a bottle of water to brush their teeth.

They eventually settled down next to each other on Jaime’s bed. And while they started the night with comments on the NPR story, the calm voice and the wind blowing outside ment each of them spoke less and less as they slowly drifted off.

***

It was the middle of the night when Tye awoke, still sitting on Jaime’s bed, propped against the side of the camper. He thought that a soft voice whispering had woken him, but where he directed his attention to the radio it was only playing soft instrumental music.

Tye felt movement next to him. The camper was dark, but thanks to the LEDs connected to their charging electronics, Tye had just enough light that he could make out the Jaime’s outline. He was lying on his side, slightly curled, with his back toward Tye.

Jaime let out a short sigh. “It's not that easy,” he whispered, his voice only audible because Tye was listening.

It infuriated Tye that that Reach thing was keeping his friend up. He tried to stifle the annoyed grunt that rose in his throat, but he knew he didn't do a good job when Jaime rolled over..

“Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.”

“No you didn't,” Tye responded softly. “It’s just- I - I don’t even know where to start. I...”

Jaime pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked at Tye, his eyes seemed to have a slight amber glow in the dark. Tye didn’t look at them long before focusing on the blanket draped over his lap.

This was all his fault.

He should have just run to Jaime’s house that night instead of the bus depot. Or just gone to Houston and called Jaime from the bus to say goodby. Or just not left at all. Anything would have been better than what he did.

The Reach were abducting runaways and, as Virgil’s experience showed, kids who just looked like runaways. And Tye made Jaime look like a runaway. He made Jaime come out to the bus depot alone and after midnight. He had handed Jaime over to their abductor like some sick two-for-one deal.

Tye squeezed his eyes shut. He clenched his hands so tightly that his nails dug into his palm. That discomfort was nothing compared to the pain that he had gone through under Reach ‘care’. But now, looking back, the electric shocks that eventually got so intense that they made if feel as though the entire pod was crushing around him weren’t the most painful memories of the experience. The most painful ones now were the ones that felt like good news at the time. He hadn’t heard Jaime’s screams and hadn’t seen him in any of the surrounding pods. So -at the time- he was sure that his friend was safe, that he didn’t need to worry about him.

He was wrong. Jaime was captured. But for whatever reason, the Reach chose him to turn into a puppet. They chose him to keep hostage long after Tye was free.

And the whole time Tye let him down. He should have spoken up where the ‘heroes’ wanted to leave him. Or ran to his side when they plucked him unconscious from the water. He should have noticed that it was Jaime saying ‘Tye’ and not fallen for the Reach changing it to ‘time to stretch’. That call was probably the last dregs of Jaime’s willpower and he had just ignored him.

He had just left him as the Reach’s puppet for months. What was he supposed to say to that. He-

He noticed Jaime’s hands were on top of his own. That touch seemed to pull him out of his memories and back into the small camper.

Tye made an effort to relax his hands.

“I really wish I hadn’t called you that night,” Tye whispered, voice cracking.

Jaime pulled his hands away.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough to save you,” Jaime whispered, barely audible.

“No,” Tye said frantically. “They took me seconds after I hung up. There was no way you could have gotten there quickly enough. But if I hadn’t called you, you wouldn’t have been at the bus depot, and there would be no reason for them to take you too.”

The slight amber glow disappeared as Jaime blinked slowly.

“Tye, it’s not your fault I was taken by the Reach,” he said.

“No, it’s theirs for ordering kidnappings,” Tye said with a harsh laugh. “But I still carry some blame for making you look like a target.”

“I wasn’t taken,” Jaime said.

Tye leveled his gaze on him. Jaime looked away.

“I wasn’t taken that night,” Jaime corrected. “All that happened was that I went to the bus depot and you were gone.”

It felt like tons had been lifted off of Tye’s chest. He couldn’t help but grin.

“Bet you thought I finally managed to get on the bus,” he said laughing. “you must have been proud.”

“Tye,” Jaime said, his tone cutting through Tye’s mirth, “I checked with the clerk, no one boarded or bought a ticket that night. You didn’t answer your phone at all. I knew something was wrong, but I - I couldn’t find you. I tried but...”

Jaime fell silent and Tye pulled him into a hug. He felt Jaime relax into him, his forehead pressed into Tye’s shoulder. Outside, the wind rocked the camper. Inside, the radio continued to play soft music. Tye was content, but he could feel Jaime’s sigh. He could feel Jaime’s slightly hitched breathing, and the tension that slowly built in his arms.

“You’re a really great friend, you know that?” Tye said softly. He had hoped to get Jaime to relax again, to make him feel better.

But Jaime pulled away. He didn’t speak or smile, only shrugged.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” Jaime said, looking past Tye.

“If it’s bothering you, it’s not nothing,” Tye responded. He was pretty sure Jaime had used that line -or something similar- more than once when Tye was upset over something Maurice did.

Jaime didn’t note the turnabout. He just twisted so that he was looking out the window, his back towards Tye.

Tye waited for Jaime to answer him, but he was met with only silence as Jaime leaned forward slowly until his head pressed against the edge of the window.

Tye reached out, hesitating only a moment before placing his hand on Jaime’s back.

His attention was immediately drawn to the bumps of smooth metal under his thumb and forefinger. He’d forgotten that the bug was still there, that it would always be there.

Tye very purposefully kept his hand exactly where he placed it. He watched Jaime carefully, if he tensed or pulled away Tye would move, but for now the absolute last thing that he wanted was for Jaime to think was that parasite changed Tye’s opinion of him.

“I’m here for you.”

“I know. I just...”

Tye could feel Jaime breathe. His body shook slightly with each exhale. He resisted the urge to pry, and let the silence hang. And eventually Jaime spoke.

“It’s not about me, but... a friend who nobody likes or cares to get to know. And I know that you have a valid reason to be mad at them. You’re one of the few people who do and I respect that. But the rest of the team... they don’t. They think they do but they really don’t. And although the... friend doesn’t mind, I do.”

Jaime pulled away and Tye brought his hand back to his side.

“I’m sorry,” Jaime said, his voice muffled as he spoke more to the cushions than Tye. “I know you have a right to be mad at them but I just don’t want to deal with it right now.”

“Jaime. I trust your judgement. If someone is your friend, well, I’ll give them a shot.”

Jaime turned, pushing his back against the side of the camper but not quite looking at Tye. “You already hate them.” His voice was soft, brittle, but didn’t seem to hold any accusation.

“You’re friends with Maurice?” Tye asked, keeping his voice light.

And despite asking the question, he wasn’t exactly surprised when Jaime vehemently shook his head.

“Asami’s parents then?”

Jaime shook his head again. But before Tye could begin reassuring Jaime and his mysterious friend, Jaime spoke quietly again.

“They’re not exactly human.”

“The Reach?” Tye asked without hesitation. “They made you their puppet-”

Tye snapped his mouth shut. He really wanted to be supportive of Jaime. But the anger at the aliens who had stolen his best friend was still fresh.

“Not the Reach,” Jaime said slowly. “The Scarab.”

“The thing they used to control you?”

“Scarab didn’t have a choice,” Jaime asserted. “If I was the puppet and the Ambassador the Puppeteer, the Scarab was the strings. Controlling me, yes, but only because they were also being controlled.”

Tye bit his lip. He willed his anger to pass. But still.

“And you are sure, absolutely sure that the Scarab isn’t on their side?” He asked, watching Jaime the best he could in the dark camper. He didn’t want to press too hard, to force Jaime away from him. But still it seemed too convenient that after the Reach left, the Scarab was suddenly committed to playing nice and being Jaime’s friend. He didn’t want to see his friend hurt or used again.

“Yes, I am,” Jaime said firmly. He actually seemed to sit a little straighter at the question. “When we were controlled, the Scarab had to follow the Ambassador’s commands. But even then, they made choices that messed up the Reach’s plans, like physically attacking kinetic shields knowing that it would make them stronger, or closing airlocks even though leaving it open would be the most efficient path to achieving the goal of stopping the team.”

Jaime sighed. “I know it might not be obvious from the outside looking in. But it couldn’t be. If the Ambassador noticed, my influence would be blamed and...” Jaime trailed off, looking away.

Tye could see his whole body tremble. He inched closer to Jaime, putting his arm around him and pulling the blankets over them both. He sat holding him and thinking about the Reach -Scarab- controlled Jaime that he had met while escaping S.T.A.R.

Once Jaime stopped shaking, Tye spoke again.

“I guess the Scarab really did understand what it was like for someone to try and control them.”

Jaime nodded, but Tye could feel his shoulders tense under the blanket.

“It sounds to me that the Scarab tried to protect you and the people you care about the best that they could. I can’t be mad at someone who does that.”

Jaime shifted.

“Red Volcano,” he said softly.

“So?” Tye asked, “I assume that, the Ambassador wanted to take him out with great force-”

“The Ambassador didn’t care about Red Volcano,” Jaime said cutting him off. “The Ambassador didn’t care if he was defeated or succeeded, all the Ambassador cared about was getting you-all of you-back under Reach control.”

“What happened that night?” Tye asked.

Jaime sighed.

“We had standing orders to help out with the team. So when Nightwing called after the Ambassador had left us for the night, Scarab tried to convince him that because there was a ‘conflict of interest’ we shouldn’t  go. Obviously, that didn’t work.”

Tye snorted at that, but let Jaime continue speaking.

“We only had so much time before the Ambassador noticed something was up. And we tried to get you all back to S.T.A.R. Labs before them. Which I know wasn’t cool.”

“Seriously not cool,” Tye agreed. “But given the circumstances seems like the best bet.”

“Maybe,” Jaime said shrugging. “But it didn’t work. And once the Ambassador came, he had a new plan to get you to Green Beetle. He’s the one that put my Scarab under Reach control in the first place. I was...”

Tye heard Jaime’s frustrated sigh, and felt the jerk of a rapidly clenched fist. So for the time being he focused on a distraction for Jaime. A related distraction, but still a distraction.

“Hold on, I’m kinda confused,” he said. “Why would the Reach give you a Scarab that wasn’t under their control?”

Jaime relaxed. “They sent the Scarab to Earth thousands of years ago,” he answered. “Magic, or something, caused the Scarab to break from Reach control way before they latched onto me in the Kord parking lot.”

“So when the Reach caught you, it wasn’t to give you the Scarab?”

Jaime shook his head. “The Reach wanted to them from my spine and perform a reboot to erase all of the Scarab’s individuality, personality, free will. We were rescued before they could. So the Reach called in Green Beetle as a backup plan.”

This meant Jaime was free when they were waiting outside of Black Canary’s office. So ‘Tyemto stretch’ was just him being a dork. And Tye didn’t have to feel guilty about missing a call for help. It also meant that the team almost left their teammate behind on the Reach ship, not a random Reach guard. It meant that the team didn’t know his friend well enough after -

“How long had you been Blue Beetle?”

“Now? About a year and a half,” Jaime answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you then. But it’s just when we first bonded, the Scarab was really violent. I-I couldn’t risk losing control and-”

“You wanted to keep me safe.”

“No- I mean, I did want to keep you safe. But I wasn’t worried about the Scarab hurting you. I wouldn’t let them.”

“Then?”

“Maurice,” Jaime answered in a whisper. “I was worried if I let the Scarab go then I’d- even if I just tried to bluff and scare him. I wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t push back. Threaten the Scarab into a response I couldn’t -didn’t want to- control. I-I was going to tell you. It’s just once I figured out a way to get him, it was too late.”

“Figured out a way...” Tye said slowing, blinking as the line processed. “You got him arrested for the pirated stuff?”

“Scarab helped,” Jaime added quickly. “Made a lock pick instead of just blasting the shed down. I was worried you were...”

“Dude. Dude,” Tye said. He was grinning ear to ear. “Tell me these things.”

“Sorry.”

“What? No. You don’t need to be sorry,” Tye said, hugging Jaime around the shoulder. “I need to be getting you all the chocolate cake. And the Scarab all the bug juice or whatever they like.  Come on. That was amazing. I don’t know how you thought I could be mad as someone who took out Maurice”

“Red Volcano,” Jaime said flatly. He didn’t pull away from Tye’s embrace, but he didn’t lean into it.

“I don’t get it.”

“You’ve had more than enough people in your life put you in danger or ignore you to meet their own goals,” Jaime said softly. “I’m not going to make excuses or ask you to not be upset at that. I can’t-”

Tye remembered the betrayal that he felt when he thought Jaime had sacrificed him for the victory. The relief he felt when he realized that it wasn’t Jaime who had done that, but the Reach. If it wasn’t the Reach but the Scarab...

“Look, if the Scarab’s only reason for acting the way they did was that they didn’t care, then yeah I’d be pissed. But so would you,” Tye said slowly. He kept his arm around Jaime. “The fact that it’s not. That you are worried about ‘making excuses’ makes me think there is a good reason for the Scarab to have done that.”

“I’m not-” Jaime said speaking more into Tye’s arm than at Tye himself, “I know how many times you’ve been told that there’s a ‘good reason’-”

“And that I just don’t understand,” Tye finished bitterly. “But Jaime, I think that -if you let me- I will understand this. And, you know what, even if I don’t, I promise you that I’m not going to make you choose between me and the Scarab. Ok?”

Jaime nodded.

“The Scarab wanted to keep you from going back to the Reach. They turned the volume up to maximum on the phone to tempt you back to S.T.A.R., thinking that the Ambassador wouldn’t risk the negative press and loss of League trust if we removed you from S.T.A.R. after that. The Scarab fought like crap in the beginning so that you -all of you- would have time to either get there or flee.”

“So when you got hurt, it was because of their delay? That’s not cool.”

Jaime waved off his concern. “The Scarab’s armor and healing abilities are really good. Still, I was glad you arrived when you did. Not just for me...”

“But for the bystanders,” Tye finished softly. “If Scarab fought well enough to protect them, the deception would be revealed, and your family-”

Tye cut himself off, and he could feel Jaime shake.

“I’m really glad it never got to that,” Jaime whispered. “I don’t I don’t know how I could deal with either choice I-”

“Well you didn’t have to,” Tye interrupted him. “We were there.”

“Yeah,” Jaime agreed, nodding against Tye’s arm. “But the Scarab had miscalculated. The Ambassador wasn’t worried about the loss of League trust. ‘Would they really blame a trusted friend for removing those four from a situation as obviously dangerous as S.T.A.R. labs’. Scarab had to make sure that you wouldn’t trust me.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jaime snapped his head to the side to look at Tye. “Huh? No, no-”

“I should have realized earlier that something was up,” Tye said firmly, looking into Jaime’s eyes that were laced with concern and the same amber light from earlier.

“No, Tye-”

“Yes. You are my friend and-”

“And what,” Jaime cut him off. “It took you a couple of hours to figure it out and you didn’t even have a reason to be looking. The team knew that the Reach were trying to use the Scarab to control me and it still took them like two months and me attacking the rest of the squad on the Warworld to figure it out.”

“Not you.”

“Right.”

Tye shrugged. “Still if I had noticed earlier instead of trying to defend ‘you’ to the others... The Scarab would have never had to push it up to eleven.”

Jaime looked away.

“Do you want me to talk to them?” Tye asked softly, “Asami, Virgil, and Ed. Explain what happened. What really happened?”

“Tye, that’s up to you. I-”

“I know. But would you be upset if I did?”

Jaime shook his head. “I think I’d actually be, relieved.”

Tye tightened his embrace, and Jaime curled into him. Tye could feel the rise and fall of Jaime’s chest as he breathed. He could hear the soft music from the radio.

“Scarab says the winds are dying down,” Jaime whispered. “Still might be a while till all the snow melts though.”

“Hopefully, it melts before we run out of pretzels.”

Jaime laughed. “Probably not, but Asami has the groceries. And without the wind I can fly here and the food here tomorrow. It might take a little without though, since - if she wanted- we could go to the nearest Zeta platform for a little pickup.”

“Virgil said extreme snow could disable Zeta tubes.”

“It can,” Jaime said smiling. “And that is a totally valid assumption that we should continue to keep as cover. But between you and me, this snow would be almost nothing in Gotham, and it’s not like they make the ones down here any different.”

Tye laughed. “Well, thank you for braving the cold to do this.”

“Not a problem,” Jaime said. “Besides, the Scarab’s armor is excellent at handling the cold.”

  
  



End file.
